A Stranger's Glow - A Rubberbang Story
by Golden-CittyKat
Summary: When Ross O'Donovan meets someone online and becomes friends with them, he decides to visit Los Angeles to meet them in person. But once he gets to LA, he realizes that he is having major chest pain. He later finds out that his chest is glowing for an unknown reason. He still continues to wonder why this happens. But a certain person he meets in LA answers that question for him.
1. Chapter 1

(Author's Note: This story is completely inspired by another author who made another AU specifically on this; when a character gets closer to their soulmate, their chest starts to glow. The same thing happens with the other character. Also, this is an AU (Alternate Universe). This is not suppose to be like real life. But you probably already know that. Anyways, on with the story!)

Chapter 1

It was a blazing hot day in Los Angeles. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, there was just sunlight. Terrible heat spread all across LA. This may have not been the best weather to welcome a newcomer to LA, but it would have to do.

Ross O'Donovan had been living in Australia throughout the 21 years he had been alive. He was an animator and comedy writer for the Internet. Thanks to this job, he spent most of his time on the Internet, mainly working, but sometimes on social media. He didn't have very many friends in reality, so he was always down with making online friends. That's where he found his best friend; Holly.

Holly was a 22 year old girl with short, pink hair, and an obsession with birds. She was a cosplayer and costume maker so she didn't spend as much time on the Internet. But when she chose to go on social media about a year ago, she met Ross. Ever since then, she spent almost every day talking to him and getting to know him. They always made jokes and laughed together. They soon became good friends.

Since Ross had been thinking about moving to California for a while, and since Holly just happened to live in LA, Ross decided to book a flight there to check it out and meet Holly in person. He wasn't one hundred percent certain he wanted to move there though, so he was only checking it out for the week and staying in a hotel in the mean time.

Once his plane finally landed after about 16 hours of flying, Ross pulled together all of his stuff excitingly and excused himself off the plane along with everyone else.

Once he went through security and got his suitcase, he left the airport to wait for his friend's appearance. But suddenly, as he was waiting, he started to feel a little bit of pain in his chest. But he just assumed it was probably nothing serious and he simply ignored it.

He looked around for a bit, then finally saw the familiar, pink-haired girl. Although he couldn't be completely certain that the girl was actually Holly, he walked up to her and held out his hand for a hand shake.

"Hey, are you Holly?" He asked the girl. She looked up at him and her face lit up. "Why yes it is, King Ross." She grabbed his hand and shook it. "How does it feel to leave your kingdom for a week?" Ross recalled himself jokingly telling Holly the other day that he was the king of Australia, so her statement made him chuckle a little.

"It feels rather odd. This truly isn't my type of atmosphere, but it will have to do for now." He said in the most formal voice he could make. Holly giggled in response. "C'mon Ross! I've gotta give you a quick tour of LA before we do anything else." She said and started to walk over to the parking lot, motioning Ross to follow her.

Once she got to her car, she stopped and dug in her pocket for something. Ross walked up to her and asked, "What's up?" Holly pulled something out and gave it to Ross. It was his room key. "I already checked you into the hotel, so when you enter the lobby, you can just tell them who you are and walk right up to your room. I thought it would save you the time." Ross glared at the key for a moment, then he took it. "Thanks for that." He said.

After the tour, it was starting to get late, and Ross felt his stomach growl. He practically begged Holly to get some food. "Alright, alright. That's probably enough of the tour for one afternoon." Ross let out a small sigh of relief. "I know a great restaurant just down the block from here. I really think you'll like it." Holly said as she started walking down the sidewalk, Ross following close behind.

As they walked, Ross felt the pain in his chest get a little stronger. He was a little concerned but he tried to ignore it. He didn't want Holly to worry about his health on the first day.

They turned the corner and stopped in front of the entrance to what appeared to be the restaurant Holly mentioned. "Here it is." Holly said with a smile. She grabbed the door handle and opened it, allowing Ross to enter first. "Thanks." Ross said as he started to walk in, but since he wasn't paying attention, he accidentally bumped into someone on the way in.

He looked up to see a tall, thin man with crazy curly hair looking down at him. The man had a shocked look on his face, but that quickly changed to a small, awkward smile. "Uh, excuse me." He said and stepped aside for Ross to pass. "Sorry about that." Ross replied and took a few steps forward. The man started to walk out the door once again. But before he disappeared entirely, Ross looked over his shoulder to find that the man happened to be looking over his shoulder as well. The second he made eye contact with him, the man turned away.

The pain in Ross' chest grew much stronger afterwards.

(So yeah! I hope you like it so far. I'll definitely write more later but please comment and tell me what you think. Should I write the next chapter or should I stop before a disaster happens?)


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

(Quick warning; there's cursing in this chapter.)

After Ross and Holly finished dinner, Holly drove Ross to the hotel he was staying at. They said their goodbyes to each other and split up; Holly driving back to her own house, and Ross walking to his hotel room. He went through the revolving door (which he may have gotten a bit distracted by for a few minutes), checked in, and walked up to his room.

He walked down the hallway, muttering his room number to himself. Once he found the room, he started digging through his pockets for his room key. But he found that there was nothing there. He got on his knees and started digging through his suit case. But there was still no key.

"Oh shit." Ross said under his breath. "I must have left it in Holly's car." He looked around to see if anyone else was near by. On the opposite end of the hallway, he saw someone walk out of their hotel room. Ross got his hopes up and stood up, waiting for the person to pass by. But as he waited, he felt the pain in his chest again. The closer the person got, the worse the pain got. Ross gripped his chest, hoping the pain would stop soon.

Once the person was just a few feet away, Ross pulled himself together and tried to ignore the pain. He spoke to the stranger. "Hey," The stranger stopped and looked at him. "Uh, I kinda lost my room key. You wouldn't happen to have something to pick this lock, would you?" The stranger dug in their pocket for a moment. Then they stopped and said, "As a matter of fact, I do." They pulled out a hair pin and started to unbend it.

As they were doing this, Ross realized that he recognized the stranger's voice, and he took a closer look at the person. It was the same man he bumped into at the restaurant. The same tall, skinny man with insane hair. No wonder he had a hair pin with him. "Wait,...you're the same dude I bumped into at that restaurant, aren't you?" Ross asked the man. The man looked up at Ross and scanned his face. "Oh yeah, I do recognize you. That was convenient." He said and smiled at Ross. He turned and started to pick the lock.

"What are you doing here?" Ross asked, leaning against the wall. The man's gaze was still on the lock. "I'm visiting LA for a few weeks. I'm from New York." Ross cocked his head in interest. "New York, eh? That's pretty far. Well, I just happen to be visiting from another place too. I'm from Australia." Just then, the lock made a click sound and the door opened. The man turned to face Ross. "Australia? Damn, that's pretty fuckin' far."

Ross gave a small smile at this statement. "So you curse too, huh?" The man opened the door all the way before answering. "Like, every fucking day." He said. Ross started to laugh a little and the man joined in. Once the laughing stopped after a few seconds, Ross asked, "So, what's your name?"

The man shoved his hands in his pockets. "The name's Dan or Danny. You can call me whatever, I don't give a shit." Ross crossed his arms and shot a sarcastic smile at Dan. "Well, fuck. How could I choose just one name to call you? There's a shit load of names out there." Dan laughed a little at this statement. "You know what I mean, you little shit." Ross smirked. "Why am I a little shit? Little shits are dumb. Why can't I be a big shit?"

"Shut up, man." Dan said before breaking into laughter again, Ross joining in on the laughter. After a few moments, they both caught their breath. Dan playfully pushed Ross' shoulder. "By the way, I didn't get your name yet." Ross put his hands on his hips. "I'm Ross." He said and put on one of his most famous, shit-eating grins.

"Well, Ross, will I be seeing you around anytime soon?" Dan asked, crossing his arms. "Let's hope so. I'm here for the whole week. What room you staying in?" Ross asked. Dan pointed down the hallway. "I'm all the way at the end of the hallway. On the left." "Cool," Ross said "I'll make sure to stop by at one point."

"Sweet. Well-" Dan said before his expression changed from a smile to a shocked, wide-eyed expression. He gripped his chest and let out a small groan. He stared coldly at the floor. "Hey, you alright?" Ross asked, concerned. Dan looked up at him and tried to look like he was alright. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'll...catch ya later." Ross shrugged his shoulders and said, "Alright, see ya."

He turned and walked about half way through the doorway to his hotel room before feeling a hand on his shoulder. He looked over his shoulder to find that Dan was bent over, gripping his chest. He seemed to be in pain. "Are you sure you're alright?" Ross asked, turning around to face him again. "Uh,...you wouldn't happen to have any...chest pain medicine...or something...would you?"

Ross' eyes grew a little wide after he heard that. Dan was also having chest problems? That seemed pretty weird and convenient to Ross. He took a moment to think if he had any medicine he just happened to pack along with his other junk. He didn't recall packing any and he felt terrible for not being able to help his new friend.

"Afraid not." He said sadly. "You should probably get some rest at your room and see if it wears off in the morning." Dan looked up at Ross with helpless, brown eyes, and lifted his hand from Ross' shoulder. He then stood straight up once again. "Yeah, you're probably right." He said. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow or something."

Ross' face lit up at the thought of seeing his new friend the next day. "Yeah, sounds great. I'll see you tomorrow, Dan." Ross said and patted Dan on the shoulder. "Yeah, catch you later, Ross." Dan said weakly. Ross then grabbed his suitcase, turned around, and walked into his hotel room. He checked back outside his room a minute later to see if Dan had left. To Ross' relief, Dan had gone. "Phew. Hopefully he'll feel better in the morning." He said to himself and closed the door.

He was looking forward to the next day.


End file.
